USGBC Launches New LEED v4 Material Ingredients Credit

USGBC Launches New LEED v4 Material Ingredients Credit

On November 1, 2016, the US Green Building Council will launch version 4 of its LEED Rating System, and projects will no longer be able to register for LEED 2009, the previous version. LEED v4 contains a new approach to Materials and Resources – Building Product Disclosure and Optimization – including a Material Ingredients credit that includes HPDs as a compliance method. According to USGBC, one reason LEED v4 “is better”:

Source: USGBC website, October 14, 2016

This new Material Ingredients credit has two options, each worth 1 point.

Option 1, Reporting, requires projects to “use at least 20 different permanently installed products from at least five different manufacturers that use any of the following programs to demonstrate the chemical inventory of the product to at least 0.1% (1000 ppm).” HPDs are one of the programs listed to document achievement.

Option 2, Optimization, requires projects to “use products that document their material ingredient optimization using the paths below for at least 25%, by cost, of the total value of permanently installed products in the project…” using as one method the “GreenScreen v1.2 Benchmark. Products that have fully inventoried chemical ingredients to 100 ppm that have no Benchmark 1 hazards.” HPDs can also be used to document this Option.

The Material Ingredients credit and associated resources can be found on the USGBC website.

On April 5, 2016, the USGBC issued an Interpretation to explain how HPD 2.0 could be used to meet the requirements of this credit, since the original credit language referred to specific elements of HPD 1.0 that had been revised in HPD 2.0. This interpretation confirmed that HPD 2.0 could be used to document achievement of the credit. The interpretation further explained that both a “basic inventory” format and a “nested materials and substances inventory” format were acceptable, and that the threshold used in the HPD could be established at the product or material level.

HPDC has posted details on these requirements for using HPDs in meeting LEED v4 requirements to help ensure that project teams and manufacturers can be successful.

This new credit is a significant step forward in encouraging reporting, disclosure, and transparency. HPDC looks forward to supporting this effort. Over the past few months, we have seen an increase in the numbers of manufacturers who are creating HPDs – in anticipation of LEED v4’s launch and the availability of the HPDC Public Repository to help project teams find HPDs. We will continue to develop education and other resources to help project teams and manufacturers navigate this new world. Please contact us with your feedback and ideas.